Genetics

A retrospective analysis of genetic testing results at one laboratory reports that reclassifications occurs in approximately one-quarter of tests, resulting in both downgrades and upgrades of variant classifications.

Researchers conducted a review of more than 400 patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer to determine if high Oncotype DX RS is associated with a greater likelihood the cancer is hereditary.

Indications for vemurafenib are expanded to include BRAF V600 mutation-positive Erdheim-Chester disease, an extremely rare non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis. FDA approval is based on results from the phase 2 VE-BASKET study.

CDK4/6 inhibitors, which block the activity of regulatory enzymes, are tolerated fairly well in patients with cancer; however, oncology nurses should be aware of some strategies that minimize their adverse effects.

Inhibition of the protein Ezh2 causes chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) stem cells to die. Adding drugs that target this protein to imatinib (Gleevec) or other BCR-ABL blockers could result in a cure for this disease.

Patient-derived cancer cell lines contain most of the genetic changes found in patients' tumors and could be used to determine tumor response to treatment, increasing the success rate of new personalized therapies for cancer.

Genetic mutations affecting the immune system were identified in patients who develop more than one CRC tumor at the same time, and understanding how these cancers develop could improve therapy targeting.